North Platte Public Schools

At the North Platte Public Schools Foundation we assist NPHS Alumni in a variety of ways. The sole support that we get to provide these services comes from donations. We appreciate any contributions that you can make to help us continue to serve our alumni.

If you have an idea of other ways that we could serve our alumni, please contact Debra Smith, Executive Director, at dsmith@nppsd.org or by phone at 308-696-3325.

North Platte Public Schools Foundation maintains a mailing list of the over 23,000 graduates of the North Platte Public Schools which we offer to reunion groups as a service of our office. We do not sell our list to other organizations. If you have new contact, information please complete the form on this site.

Many classes use our class list as a starting point for contacting their classmates for reunions. By keeping your information current, you are more likely to be contacted by your class when activities are planned. Each individual class is responsible, however, for contacting their classmates and planning their class activities. We will post information provided to us as it is received.

Helping alumni groups like yours is one of the ways that our mission is fulfilled. It helps graduates feel reconnected to their former school and builds positive relations with the public for the North Platte Public Schools. Click here for helpful hints for a great class reunion

Attention Alumni: Please Fill Out The Info Below If You Have Not Done So Recently. Thank you!

This text is replaced by the Flash movie.

Foundation looking for NPHS alumni

By JOHN LINDENBERGER, The North Platte Telegraph

01/19/2008

The North Platte Public Schools Foundation will be updating its alumni directory this year, and director Deb Smith is encouraging all NPHS graduates to provide their most current contact information.

“If for no other purpose, just have your information updated for your reunion,” Smith said.

She noted the foundation has taken on the role of maintaining an alumni database because the district does not currently have anyone to assist alumni in locating classmates.

In any given month, Smith said she gets several calls either from teachers wanting to know about a certain student and where they ended up or from classmates wanting to connect with other classmates.

“I don’t think there’s a month that goes by that I don’t have a request,” Smith said. “It’s really a great feeling to be able to connect those two people together.”

The alumni directory is updated once every four or five years. She said the foundation will be working with the company Harris Connect out of Virginia to update the directory.

“This will be our third book that we’ll be doing with this company,” she said. “Our first one was published in 1999.”

Smith said Harris Connect will start sending out postcards next week asking alumni to call a toll-free number to update their contact information. The postcards will be sent in stages over the next six to eight weeks.

“That information is really only for alumni purposes,” Smith said, adding the information will not be posted on the Internet or sold to any outside companies. The postcards will be sent to the last known address for each alumni.
Harris Connect will publish copies of the directory later this year. Smith said anyone who is included in the directory can order a copy. However, she pointed out purchasing a directory is not a requirement to be listed.

“We don’t want people to feel like there’s any financial commitment on their part to being involved in this project,” Smith said.

Smith said Harris Connect will only print as many directories as have been requested by alumni. This means there will not be a chance two or three years from now to purchase an alumni directory.

The foundation will have a copy of the directory in order to help people reconnect and to notify people of events of interest such as the annual distinguished alumni dinner.

If a postcard has not arrived in the mail by the first of April, Smith urges alumni to update their information through the foundation Web site at www.nppsf.org, by e-mail at dsmith@nppsd.org or by calling 696-3325.

“That way, I can get it to the company and we can make sure the directory is as complete as possible,” Smith said.

Distinguished alumni to be honored

By JOHN LINDENBERGER, The North Platte Telegraph

01/18/2008

Life does not end after high school. Many North Platte High School students have gone on to make significant contributions to society.
On Feb. 1, three such local graduates will be honored for their outstanding accomplishments.

The recipients of this year’s North Platte High School Distinguished Alumni Award include former Nissan Motor Corporation chief executive officer Robert Thomas from the Class of 1963, University of Nebraska Regent and former North Platte mayor Robert Phares from the Class of 1958. and the late Rae Wilson Sleight, who graduated in 1933 and helped establish the North Platte Canteen.

These distinguished alumni will be recognized at the annual dinner and auction for the North Platte Public Schools Foundation. The fundraising dinner will take place Feb. 1 at the Sandhills Convention Center in North Platte.

Those interested in attending the NPPSF dinner and auction can call 696-3325 for more information. Tickets for the event are $50 per person, and the deadline for tickets is Feb. 2.

This is the first year the Distinguished Alumni Award has been linked with the Foundation dinner. School officials hope to continue the tradition and make the award an annual event to coincide with the fundraiser.

The Distinguished Alumni Award was first presented in 1985 and 1986. Associate Superintendent Dan Twarling revived the program in 2003 when he was principal of North Platte High School.

Since that time, additional alumni have been recognized periodically as nominations have been submitted. To be eligible for this award, the alumni must have graduated from NPHS at least 20 years ago or more.

“The purpose of the award is to recognize alumni of North Platte High School who have made contributions in a wide variety of areas,” Twarling said.

In addition, the graduate must be nominated by a third party. Twarling said the nominations are reviewed by a selection committee made up of alumni, board members from the foundation and high school teachers.

“There are tons and tons of our alumni who have done amazing things,” said NPPSF Director Deb Smith. “Every class probably has many that could be nominated. They just need somebody to take on that role and let us know about it.”

Nominations can be submitted at any time, and they are kept for consideration by the committee for three years.

Twarling said they received 26 nominations this year. He noted they will have a full school assembly at the high school as they have done in the past to recognize the new distinguished alumni.

Award recipients will receive a special plaque from the school as well as the foundation. A plaque will also be placed with the plaques of former award recipients in the commons area at North Platte High School.

Rae Wilson Sleight

A 1933 graduate of North Platte High School, Rae Wilson Sleight earned a place in local historyby acting on a generous impulse and following through to help establish the North Platte Canteen during World War II.

Rae was a 25-year-old clerk in a local pharmacy and among several hundred North Platte residents who gathered at the depot Dec. 17, 1941, to greet a train reported to be carrying Company D of the Nebraska National Guard.

When the passengers turned out to be from Kansas Company D instead, Rae stepped forward to offer her gifts to the Kansas troops, and the rest of the gathering followed.

The next day, a letter in the local newspaper from Rae urged area residents to start a fund and open a Canteen. It opened on Christmas Day, 1941, and would serve 6 million military travelers before closing on April 1, 1946.

Robert Phares

A member of the graduating Class of 1958, Robert Phares has been involved in local civil service for many years. He was elected mayor of North Platte at the age of 28. At that time, he was the youngest mayor of a Class I city.

His appointment to the hospital planning council in 1969 led to the development of Great Plains Regional Medical Center. He continued to serve on the board at the hospital off and on for 25 years, with eight years as chairman.

His other community involvement includes serving on the North Platte Area Chamber of Commerce board, as past president of the League of Nebraska Municipalities and past president of the North Platte Rotary, just to name a few.

In August 2006, he was appointed to the University of Nebraska Board of Regents, and was elected in November of that same year to a full four-year term.

Robert Thomas

Now living in Hawaii, Robert Thomas graduated from North Platte High School in 1963 and went on to become CEO and president of the Nissan Motor Corporation, where he continues to serve as an advisory board member.

While in high school, he was selected for the All-State football team and was named Scholastic All-American in his senior year. He was appointed to the U.S. Air Force Academy where he served on the academy’s ethics committee.

After graduation, he served in the U.S. Air Force for four years at the Space and Missile System Organization in the Los Angeles area as a financial manager for a program office handling a restricted data defense system.

Before joining Nissan in 1982, he spent seven years with Ford Motor Company during a period of industry change when the Detroit auto manufacturers had to face the new product challenges of the Japanese imports